Circumcision

1. Full penis length and circumference. The “prepuce” (foreskin) constitutes 50% or more of the skin system of the penis [1]. If unfolded and spread flat, the average adult foreskin measures 60-90 square centimeters (10-14 square inches) [2], or about the size of an index card [see illustration]. The foreskin creates a visibly longer penis, especially when the foreskin extends beyond the head of the penis. Also, the double-layered tissue of the foreskin engorges with blood during erection and creates a visibly and sensually thicker shaft and glans.When the engorged foreskin retracts behind the coronal ridge of the glans, it often creates a wider and more pronounced “ridge” that many partners find especially stimulating during penetrative intercourse. The circumcised penis appears truncated and thinner than a full-sized intact penis.

2. Protection. The sleeve of tissue known as the foreskin normally covers the glans and protects it from abrasion, drying, callusing (keratinization), and environmental contaminants. The glans is intended by nature to be a protected internal organ, like the female clitoris [see illustration]. The effect of an exposed glans and resulting keratinization on human sexual response has never been studied. Increasing reports by circumcised men indicate that keratinization causes a loss of sexual sensation, pleasure and fulfillment [3, 4].

3. Ridged bands. The inner foreskin contains bands of densely innervated, sexually responsive tissue [1]. They constitute a primary erogenous zone of the human penis and are important for realizing the fullness and intensity of sexual response [5].

4. Gliding action. The foreskin is the only moving part of the penis. During any sexual activity, the foreskin and glans work in unison; their mutual interaction creates a complete sexual response. In heterosexual intercourse, the non-abrasive gliding of the penis in and out of itself within the vagina facilitates smooth and pleasurable intercourse for both partners [see illustration]. Without this gliding action, the corona of the circumcised penis can function as a one-way valve, dragging vaginal lubricants out into the drying air and making artificial lubricants essential for non-painful intercourse [6].

5. Specialized sensory tissue. In addition to the “ridged bands” mentioned above, thousands of coiled fine-touch receptors (Meissner’s corpuscles) constitute the most important sensory component of the penis [1]. The foreskin contains branches of the dorsal nerve and between 10,000 and 20,000 specialized erotogenic nerve endings of several types, which are capable of sensing slight motion and stretch, subtle changes in temperature, and fine gradations in texture [7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12].

6. The frenulum. This is a highly nerve-laden web of tissue that tethers the inner foreskin to the underside of the glans [see photo]. It is similar to the frenula found under the tongue, the upper lip and the clitoral hood (female foreskin). For many intact men, the penile frenulum is a male “G-spot” that is highly pleasurable when repeatedly stretched and relaxed during sexual activity [13]. Depending on the surgical method used, the frenulum is partially to completely destroyed by circumcision.

7. Proper blood flow. The foreskin contains several feet of blood vessels, including the frenular artery and branches of the dorsal artery. The loss of this rich vascularization interrupts normal blood flow to the shaft and glans of the penis, damaging the natural function of the penis and altering its development [1].

8. Immunological defense. The soft mucosa of the inner foreskin produces plasma cells, which secrete immunoglobulin antibodies, and antibacterial and antiviral proteins [7, 14], such as the pathogen-killing enzyme called lysozyme [15 and see explanation]. All of the human mucosa (the linings of the mouth, eyelids, vagina, foreskin and anus) are the body’s first line of defense against disease. This benefit of the foreskin could be one possible explanation why intact men are at lower risk of chlamydia and other sexually transmitted diseases[16-21].

9. Langerhans cells. These specialized epithelial cells are a component of the immune system and may play a role in protecting the penis from sexually transmitted infections such as HIV (AIDS) [see explanation and 14-16, 18].

12. Apocrine glands. These glands produce pheromones, nature’s invisible yet compelling signals to potential sexual partners. The effect of their absence on human sexual behavior has never been studied [23].

13. Sebaceous glands. The oils produced by these glands lubricate and moisturize the foreskin and glans, so that the two structures function together smoothly.

14. Dartos fascia. This is a smooth muscle sheath that underlies the scrotum, the entire penis and the tip of the foreskin. It is necessary for proper temperature regulation of the genitals (causing these structures to elongate in the heat and shrink in the cold). Approximately half of the Dartos fascia is destroyed by circumcision [7].

15. Natural texture and coloration of the glans. In the intact penis, the glans normally appears moist, shiney, and pinkish-red to dark purple. These visual cues often attract and excite a sexual partner. The glans of a circumcised penis is dry, rough and often light pink to bluish-gray in color [see photos].

16. Zero risk of serious infection or surgical injury. Unfortunate boys who suffer botched circumcisions lose part or all of their penis from surgical mishap or subsequent infection. They are often “sexually reassigned” by castration and “transgender surgery.” They are relegated to a life of hormone therapy and are compelled to live their lives as pseudo-females, the success of which has never been fully assessed [24-46].

17. Zero risk of death from surgery. Every year boy die from the complications of circumcision, a fact that the American circumcision industry ignores, obscures, or downplays [29-31].

18. Zero risk of delayed or diminished maternal bonding. Circumcision, even if anesthesia is used, causes unavoidable operative trauma and post-operative pain that has been shown to disrupt bonding with the mother, which in turn interferes with the first developmental task of every human, that of trust (trust in human contact, in personal safety, etc) [47-51].

19. Electromagnetic “cross-communication.” Anecdotal reports suggest that, without the mucosa of its foreskin, the penis lacks the capacity for the subtle electromagentic energy transfer that occurs during contact between two mucous membranes (the vaginal walls and the exposed inner lining of the foreskin). Such contact contributes to the full experience of sexual pleasure. These reports deserve further scientific study.

20. The foreskin is necessary for optimal health and well-being of the male, as well as contributing to fulfillment
in his sexual relationships.

Adapted for use by NOHARMM from a list compiled by
Gary L. Harryman (NORM/Southern California) glharryman@aol.com

The idea that HIV, the virus that supposedly causes AIDS, is “heterosexually transmitted” in African countries and mostly “homosexually transmitted” in Western countries cannot be explained by known epidemiological rules.

This is why, since the beginning of AIDS in Africa, when reports showed that the syndrome was equally distributed in men and women, researchers have been speculating about explanations for what they call “An Epidemiologic Paradigm” (1).

The difficulty is that the belief that HIV is the cause of AIDS prevents health care professionals, researchers, journalists, and lay people from perceiving genuine explanations for the ways in which the AIDS epidemic is manifesting itself within different communities, countries, and continents. HIV is an obstacle to discovering the objective causes of AIDS. Nor does the HIV theory permit proper measures to be taken to stop the spread of the epidemic. This is the true danger of HIV!

The following are some of the reasons that researchers who believe that HIV is the cause of AIDS have given to explain why, in Africa, AIDS affects both sexes equally: late age at marriage; sexual cravings and excesses; gross heterosexual promiscuity; high levels of polygyny; the rubbing of monkey’s blood into cuts as an aphrodisiac; truck drivers who get HIV from prostitutes and then infect their wives; duration of postpartum abstinence; women being allowed to participate in commerce and maintain separate budgets from husbands; high levels of sterility caused by widespread sexually transmitted diseases; unusual sexual practices that facilitate transmission; the practice of female circumcision; the lack of male circumcision; etc. (2-6).

Western health experts and journalists accuse Africans of gross heterosexual promiscuity. Do they have proof for it? Recently, Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordiner wrote in the New York Times that African promiscuity “is difficult to condemn when sex is the cheapest or only available satisfaction for people society leaves to live on the street” (7).

Regarding male circumcision, the following are among the arguments that defenders of HIV as the cause of AIDS provide to promote male genital mutilation in Africa (2,8-12):

“A joint Canadian-Kenyan medical research team working in Kenyatta Medical School in Nairobi, where the epidemic is intense, had reported a year earlier that AIDS rates were higher among Luo migrants from western Kenya than among the Kikuyu from central Kenya.” Later the authors “surmised that the Luo were at greater risk because, unlike the Kukuyu, they were not circumcised” (2,10).

“An American team led by John Bongaarts of the Population Council published a paper showing that the regions across sub-Saharan Africa with high levels of HIV infection among local peoples corresponded well with the areas where men were typically uncircumcised” (9).

“Most of the ideas we investigated failed to explain the extraordinarily high rate of infection in the AIDS belt. One factor did stand out, however: lack of male circumcision. In the area where men are typically uncircumcised, HIV rates are among the highest in the AIDS belt” (2).

“We noted that the areas of Africa with large numbers of uncircumcised men were almost exactly the same as the regions suffering from the severe AIDS epidemic,” and “The link between lack of circumcision and elevated levels of HIV infection appears robust” (2).

“For uncircumcised men, thorough cleaning of the genitals can be particularly challenging” (2).

“Outside the AIDS belt, in the city of Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Cost, levels of HIV infection are as high as they are in some cities of the AIDS belt; we believe the epidemic in Abidjan is very likely sustained by immigrants who come from a surrounding area where the majority of men are uncircumcised” (2).

“Thus, we concluded that in the AIDS belt, lack of male circumcision in combination with risky sexual behavior, such as having multiple sex partners, engaging in sex with prostitutes and leaving chancroid untreated, has led to rampant HIV transmission. Unsafe sexual practices have certainly contributed to the spread of AIDS across Africa and indeed around the world” (2).

HIV researchers have gone further: “In sub-Saharan Africa, circumcision could be offered as a reinforcement of other protective measures” (2).

“These men are appearing at hospitals in sharply increasing numbers, requesting circumcision for themselves and often for their sons. Clinics that offer adult male circumcision as a protection against AIDS now advertise in Tanzanian newspapers” (2).

However, HIV researchers knew in advance that such measures would not be sufficient: “Although the epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa may subside somewhat, because of greater use of condoms and probably increased incidence of circumcision, Africans in the AIDS belt remain at extremely high risk of HIV infection” (2). These researchers are opening doors to pharmaceutical companies to bring to Africa the expensive “help” of the World Bank, to medicate with immunotoxic antiretrovirals HIV-positive Africans and those who are merely presumed to be positive (13).

The words of a professor of African History speak for themselves: “Racist assumptions about African sexuality merit scrutiny. Generalizations about African sexual practices are analytically useless but perpetuate racist stereotypes about insatiable sexual appetites and carnal exotica. Media misinterpretations of African sexuality and its alleged link to AIDS have spawned inordinate anxieties and pervasive despair in regions already afflicted with extreme poverty, ravaged by war, and deprived of primary health care delivery systems” and, he continues, “the political economy of underdevelopment and environmentally caused endemic sickness, not extraordinary sexual behavior or a sexually transmitted virus, are what’s killing Africans. The so-called AIDS epidemic has become the medicalization of poverty to justify Western medical intervention in the form of vaccine trials, drug testing, and evangelistic demands for behavior modification. AIDS scientists and public health planners must reconsider the role of malnutrition, poor sanitation, anemia, and parasitic and endemic infections for producing the clinical AIDS symptoms that are manifestations of non-HIV insults” (5).

Belief in HIV prevents the understanding that AIDS in Africa is occurring now because never before has poverty been so prevalent and intense as it is now in the African areas where AIDS is epidemic. The only rational way to stop the spread of the AIDS epidemic in the African continent is by finding solutions for the economic disparities that are rampant in Africa (14,15).

AIDS in Africa is not an epidemiologic paradigm. There exists a serious crisis in the scientific methodology; currently, the problem is that epidemiologic ignorance is pandemic. Let us go back to the teaching of epidemiology to find a solution to AIDS in Africa and elsewhere (16-41).

President Thabo Mbeki is absolutely correct when he demands a scientific answer to the question: “Why is HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa heterosexually transmitted while in the Western world it is said to be largely homosexually transmitted?”

I am certain that Africans will continue questioning and rejecting the ethnic fictions and racial slanders described here. They are already standing up to defend their integrity.

Caldwell JC, Caldwell P. The African AIDS Epidemic. In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 25 percent of the population is HIV-positive as a result of heterosexual transmission of the virus. Could lack of circumcision make men in this region particularly susceptible? Scientific American 1996; 274(3): 62-68.

Abramson JH. Making Sense of Associations. Factors and Risk Markers. Causes and Effects. In: Making Sense of Data; A Self- Instruction Manual on the Interpretation of Epidemiological DATA. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988: 193-264, 219-228 and 265-316.